Such a sad thing to read. Our friends really need our prayers right now. Can you imagine not being able to use our wonderful website, or even being put in prison for it?
Russian Officials Seek Court Ruling to Ban Popular Bible-Education Website
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Circuit Assembly, Part Two
Followup on the Circuit Assembly
Of course, there were many good parts and points on the program. However, there was one talk in particular that we really enjoyed, and thought was good advice for all of us. This next bit is based on the notes I have from that part- not our own ideas.
----------------
Reject "Strange Teachings": Build Bigger Storehouses
People always want "More." More house, more stuff to fill said house, a new car, a new phone, new clothes....and so on. Interestingly, in the Bible, the word "More" is related to greediness and covetousness. Now, most of us probably don't think of ourselves as greedy or covetous, but could we be that way and not realize it?
The idea of building bigger storehouses comes from Luke 12:16-21. This is the illustration of the rich man whose land produced well and he decided to store up his things and then "take it easy, eat, drink."
The man felt that after working hard and obtaining many things, he would be comfortable and could take it easy. You may notice that he had only begun to reason to himself, he had not started to act on it yet. His plans would only provide a false sense of security; it may have seemed practical to him, and yet God called him unreasonable.
Something that I hadn't fully realized before about this illustration is that the man was already rich. He already had many storehouses, and they were already full of "good things." This man had a lot materially. But he still wanted more.
Ultimately, his plans- and his possessions- did him no good. All the time spent on those, and that night he lost his life.
This begs the question- Are we rich toward ourselves or toward God?
Imagine being able to pioneer for the rest of your life, but holding onto possessions out of a false sense of security. How sad is that.
1 Timothy 6:7,8 talks about being content with food and clothing. The thought was brought out that it's not always a matter of "Can I afford this item?" It's of being content with what we have and keeping kingdom interests first.
The question was also asked: Are we content to wait on Jehovah to satisfy our desires?
We should be happy with whatever Jehovah chooses to give us.
----------------
Ok, now this is our thoughts.
We can compare the illustration of the rich man to plans that we might make. We may feel we need to take care of certain financial and material "needs" before we can do more for Jehovah, but are those things really necessary? Is buying a house really going to help us serve Jehovah? Do we really "need" that new, huge ______? Chances are, the answer is no.
Even if we try to reason that those things are necessary or might help us serve more fully in the future, is the goal of obtaining that item going to keep you from serving more right now?
Zach and I are so inspired by the friends we meet down here. Often they are in financial/material situations that seem impossible. But you don't hear them complaining about it. Instead, they have a smile on their face and are out in the ministry regularly. Are they stressed by their situation? Probably. But that isn't their focus. It really helps put things into perspective for us.
Many of the friends who are missionaries and need-greaters could be making money and securing a 'future' for themselves back home. Instead, they leave the 'security' of that 'comfortable' life, and do just what they need to get by. They don't have all the fancy stuff, and they don't have many things that people sometimes think they couldn't live without. But you know what, they are a lot happier, a lot less stressed, and it turns out- you can live without those things. They have amazing experiences, get to travel to incredible places, and have a life many of us can only imagine. Plus, the employer health package is awesome and their 401k won't decrease in value.
One thing we have learned is that you don't have to have it all figured out before you make a change. Yes, you do need to count the cost (Luke 14:28) before doing something, but you can't wait for the perfect circumstances to occur, because that might never happen. You can't worry about "What will happen three years from now if I do this?" because you might miss the opportunity you have right now. Matthew 6:34 says "Never be anxious about the next day, for the next day will have its own anxieties." If you trust in Jehovah and put him first, it will work out. We have seen so many amazing examples of this.
Ultimately, what will you regret more: not Pioneering/RBC/Serving where the Need is Great/Etc (even if it's only for a short period of time) or not having that shiny new _____ and the bills that go with it?
--------------------
As we said, food for thought for all of us. We really appreciated that part of our Assembly, and wanted to share what we got out of it.
Next post: Service Experiences
Of course, there were many good parts and points on the program. However, there was one talk in particular that we really enjoyed, and thought was good advice for all of us. This next bit is based on the notes I have from that part- not our own ideas.
----------------
Reject "Strange Teachings": Build Bigger Storehouses
People always want "More." More house, more stuff to fill said house, a new car, a new phone, new clothes....and so on. Interestingly, in the Bible, the word "More" is related to greediness and covetousness. Now, most of us probably don't think of ourselves as greedy or covetous, but could we be that way and not realize it?
The idea of building bigger storehouses comes from Luke 12:16-21. This is the illustration of the rich man whose land produced well and he decided to store up his things and then "take it easy, eat, drink."
The man felt that after working hard and obtaining many things, he would be comfortable and could take it easy. You may notice that he had only begun to reason to himself, he had not started to act on it yet. His plans would only provide a false sense of security; it may have seemed practical to him, and yet God called him unreasonable.
Something that I hadn't fully realized before about this illustration is that the man was already rich. He already had many storehouses, and they were already full of "good things." This man had a lot materially. But he still wanted more.
Ultimately, his plans- and his possessions- did him no good. All the time spent on those, and that night he lost his life.
This begs the question- Are we rich toward ourselves or toward God?
Imagine being able to pioneer for the rest of your life, but holding onto possessions out of a false sense of security. How sad is that.
1 Timothy 6:7,8 talks about being content with food and clothing. The thought was brought out that it's not always a matter of "Can I afford this item?" It's of being content with what we have and keeping kingdom interests first.
The question was also asked: Are we content to wait on Jehovah to satisfy our desires?
We should be happy with whatever Jehovah chooses to give us.
----------------
Ok, now this is our thoughts.
We can compare the illustration of the rich man to plans that we might make. We may feel we need to take care of certain financial and material "needs" before we can do more for Jehovah, but are those things really necessary? Is buying a house really going to help us serve Jehovah? Do we really "need" that new, huge ______? Chances are, the answer is no.
Even if we try to reason that those things are necessary or might help us serve more fully in the future, is the goal of obtaining that item going to keep you from serving more right now?
Zach and I are so inspired by the friends we meet down here. Often they are in financial/material situations that seem impossible. But you don't hear them complaining about it. Instead, they have a smile on their face and are out in the ministry regularly. Are they stressed by their situation? Probably. But that isn't their focus. It really helps put things into perspective for us.
Many of the friends who are missionaries and need-greaters could be making money and securing a 'future' for themselves back home. Instead, they leave the 'security' of that 'comfortable' life, and do just what they need to get by. They don't have all the fancy stuff, and they don't have many things that people sometimes think they couldn't live without. But you know what, they are a lot happier, a lot less stressed, and it turns out- you can live without those things. They have amazing experiences, get to travel to incredible places, and have a life many of us can only imagine. Plus, the employer health package is awesome and their 401k won't decrease in value.
One thing we have learned is that you don't have to have it all figured out before you make a change. Yes, you do need to count the cost (Luke 14:28) before doing something, but you can't wait for the perfect circumstances to occur, because that might never happen. You can't worry about "What will happen three years from now if I do this?" because you might miss the opportunity you have right now. Matthew 6:34 says "Never be anxious about the next day, for the next day will have its own anxieties." If you trust in Jehovah and put him first, it will work out. We have seen so many amazing examples of this.
Ultimately, what will you regret more: not Pioneering/RBC/Serving where the Need is Great/Etc (even if it's only for a short period of time) or not having that shiny new _____ and the bills that go with it?
--------------------
As we said, food for thought for all of us. We really appreciated that part of our Assembly, and wanted to share what we got out of it.
Next post: Service Experiences
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Circuit Assembly
Warning: This post is not filled with lots of words, because I know you really just want photos.
This past weekend we had our Circuit Assembly in El Progreso, a small town a few hours from La Ceiba. We took the bus up Friday- here's some pictures from the ride.
I think this is a palm tree farm. The trees are all in rows. I don't know what they are used for though.
The room where the Assembly is held. It's at a college. This is the view from the very front. It's a small room.
A couple days before the Assembly, a sister in one of the Spanish congregations called us. She has friends that just moved to Ceiba and wanted to go to the Assembly, so we gave her the details. Randomly talking to strangers once we get there, guess who we met?
Brother from our hall being interviewed.
Circuit Overseer
Dinner after the program. You can see a long table full of people in the back, also brothers and sisters.
Bus ride home.
Kingdom Hall
Some stats:
Assembly attendance: Approx 170 (Only the congregations in Honduras)
Total Circuit: 590 Publishers
About 38% of our circuit (all four countries) are Pioneers
Also- Exciting News! Our first visitors just booked their flights! Yay!
The next post is going to be about a really good talk we had at the Assembly. Stay tuned...
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Jealousy
I know all of you back home must be freezing like crazy, but we envy you. We really miss the snow, and from what I hear, Honduras doesn't get snow too often. Imagine that....
Not that we aren't having storms of our own though. Ours are more of the rain and wind variety though. There's been a few times we've wanted to compare the wind to a tornado (a mild one, of course) (and usually at 3 am) and the street has turned into a river.
Also, it's rained so much, I think my garden has died.
Our neighbors have finally moved in, they got the majority of the apartment remodeled while we were gone. Something they discovered was that the water pressure was not what it should be, and since they had been living just down the street, they knew it wasn't natural. So they called in a plumber....and now I can take an actual shower that doesn't involve a bucket.
Then again, with all the rain, I could have taken a non-bucket shower outside anyway.
Side note: Does this mean we now live in a Missionary Home? Since we live in a home, with Missionaries?
The 2014 Yearbook is up on www.JW.org and if you haven't downloaded it yet, you should. Honduras had a 5% increase this year. Our Circuit had an average 5.5% increase!
Some other stats:
Speaking of Circuits, we have the Assembly this weekend in El Progreso. There should be lots of pictures for you next week.
Not that we aren't having storms of our own though. Ours are more of the rain and wind variety though. There's been a few times we've wanted to compare the wind to a tornado (a mild one, of course) (and usually at 3 am) and the street has turned into a river.
Also, it's rained so much, I think my garden has died.
Our neighbors have finally moved in, they got the majority of the apartment remodeled while we were gone. Something they discovered was that the water pressure was not what it should be, and since they had been living just down the street, they knew it wasn't natural. So they called in a plumber....and now I can take an actual shower that doesn't involve a bucket.
Then again, with all the rain, I could have taken a non-bucket shower outside anyway.
Side note: Does this mean we now live in a Missionary Home? Since we live in a home, with Missionaries?
The 2014 Yearbook is up on www.JW.org and if you haven't downloaded it yet, you should. Honduras had a 5% increase this year. Our Circuit had an average 5.5% increase!
Some other stats:
- There are 237% more Witnesses worldwide than people in Honduras.
- Honduras has an average of 1 publisher to every 367 people. The USA is 1:262.
- There are 368 congregations in 6 languages, and yes, that includes Chinese. (Summer and Danielle, that means you have to visit now.)
- 771 were baptized last year, which is approx. 2 per day.
Speaking of Circuits, we have the Assembly this weekend in El Progreso. There should be lots of pictures for you next week.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Thank You!!!
Zach and I just wanted to take a moment to tell all of you how much we appreciate you. When we get comments and emails from you friends, it really encourages us and brightens our day.
We love to see our international brotherhood in action, and are so thankful for the support and love you show us.
*Photo courtesy of @jw_keep_calm
We love to see our international brotherhood in action, and are so thankful for the support and love you show us.
*Photo courtesy of @jw_keep_calm
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